Halt

There was no stopping Foremarke Hall as it puffed through Hayles Abbey Halt. 

My first venture away from home since June. Dr T took me to Cheltenham Racecourse so that we could take advantage of two free tickets for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWR). We travelled up to Toddington on the steam train pulled by Foremarke Hall, then came back to the newly finished Hayles Abbey Halt on the diesel. We then walked via Hayles Abbey and the Cotswolds Way back to Toddington, then eventually returned on the diesel to Cheltenham.  It was the longest walk I have done in a year.  I saw a few plants I rarely see because of living in the north, and we had excellent views of a red kite missing a dead pigeon in a ploughed field that had just been dropped by a buzzard. 

The GWR has a very good website and several linked blogs that record activity on the line and progress with extending it from Toddington to Broadway. Steam railway restorations are always so inspiring as an example of what a large group of enthusiastic volunteers can achieve. This was a particularly enjoyable day out, on an Autumn day with bright skies and summer temperatures in mid-October.